Does God Hear Me When I'm Hurting? | Unfiltered

All right, have you ever been somebody you saw somebody waving enthusiastically and you thought it was they were waving at you and they weren't?

Yeah, so last week I was at the hospital and this surgeon was coming down the hallway and he was like, and I was like, hi, and he walked right past me, and I was like, oh no.

And my fellow worker was like, oh, okay.

I'm like, I don't know.

It's amazing how quickly the human heart can move from they're happy to see me to I am the most embarrassed and the most rejected in this moment.

And that was over a wave.

That wasn't even for us.

That wasn't even real rejection.

That was just somebody I thought was saying hi to me because why wouldn't he say hi to me?

I don't know.

He probably was.

But some imagin and some rejection is not imagined.

Some rejection is not accidental.

Some of us were really left out at one time in our lives.

Some of us were falsely accused, betrayed, mocked, abandoned, and judged before anybody ever knew you.

Rejection is something all of us can recognize.

Being left out, it's being judged before someone knows you, but it's also working hard for an opportunity and being told you weren't the one they wanted.

Maybe a friend pulls away, a child shuts you out, a spouse betrays your trust.

Maybe people online decide who you are before they even know you, just from a screenshot.

For some of us, it goes even deeper than that.

You were abandoned, maybe falsely accused, publicly embarrassed, discriminated against, or even abused.

Rejection hurts because God was made, made us to be fully loved and fully known.

And when we're not, when we don't feel that, when that love is withheld or weaponized, it can feel like the whole world is against us.

But rejection can do more than just hurt us.

If we never bring the wound to God, it can become and begin to rule us on the inside.

We replay the conversations, don't we?

We go over what they said over and over again.

We imagine what we should have said in the first place.

We feel like the silence on every silence we hear becomes suspicion, and we follow these trails of these stories until we get lost in them.

And then we turn inward and we start to just think about how they hurt us and what's going on.

And the problem with that is that we can leave God out.

And we can leave God out of the solution and grow resentful, and we can decide that God was unfair and that he's not fixing us, and then we can become um cynical and that he doesn't care about injustice at all.

You may not have chosen the wound that you have, but you do have a choice about where you take that wound.

You have a choice about where you take it.

And here's the good news Jesus was the most innocent, and Jesus was the most betrayed.

He understands the betrayal, the mockery, the public condemnation can feel like, and he can teach us what to do with our pain, and he can be with us while we walk through these times of rejection and what we're going through.

So, what do we do when we are rejected and scorned and treated unjustly?

Well, we're gonna look at Psalm 69 today, and I believe it gives us just the language for what that feels like.

So, Psalm 69, one through four, we're gonna start with, we're gonna go through it.

This some say it's a psalm written by David, other scholars don't know.

So we're gonna say the psalmist, and he's gonna tell us about how it feels when he is rejected.

So, Psalm 69, one.

I can't find a foothold.

I am in deep water and the floods overwhelm me.

I am exhausted from crying for help.

My throat is parched, my eyes are swollen with weeping, waiting for my God to help me.

Those who hate me without calls outnumber the hairs on my head.

Many enemies try to destroy me with lies, demanding that I give back what I did not steal.

My family and I go up to Crivets, Wisconsin, which is a little town, and we go up there a lot because my parents live there, and they have a cabin in the woods, and there's a lake nearby.

And every almost every summer, we take a pontoon boat on this lake called High Falls Flowage, and it's a big lake, and we tool around and we go have a picnic on the beach, and then we anchor it and we jump in the water.

You need to know about this water though, because even though it's a lake, it's a man-made lake, it is deep, not ocean deep, but like 40 feet deep.

That's a big deal when you can't see in the water, it's black.

Y'all, so my kids run and jump in the water, and they're like yelling phrases, and it's so exciting.

And then it's my turn, and I literally have to gird myself to get in because you don't know what's down there.

And so I run, I hold my nose, and I jump and I go down and down and down and down and down, and like, is it ever gonna end?

And then you start to come up and you're like swimming and swimming and swimming.

You're like, Am I ever gonna reach the top?

And you get to the top, and that's what I think this psalmist feels like.

He's right above the water, he can hardly catch his breath.

Have you ever felt like that before?

It's you're desperate.

You're desperate.

I love how the psalms give us permission to say exactly how it feels.

This is how it feels.

Listen to his words.

The flood waters are up to my neck.

Deeper and deeper, deeper I sink into the mud and mire.

Like he can't move.

He's stuck.

The writer is not calmly discussing rejection here.

He feels it in his body.

He is exhausted, he is swollen-eyed, he is thirsty, he is unable to find a foothold, and he is waiting for God, and God has not answered yet.

Then the psalmist makes this important distinction.

He knows he's being treated unjustly, but he also knows at the same time that I have sinned.

Listen to verses five and six.

Oh God, you know how foolish I am.

My sins cannot be hidden from you.

Don't let those who trust in you be ashamed because of me, O sovereign Lord of heaven's armies.

The psalmist is honest about his own sin, but admitting that you have sinned does not mean that every accusation about you is true.

It doesn't mean you have to receive everything as guilty.

But it is powerful for us to go before the Lord.

I love what it says in Psalm 139.

I'm gonna read it for you.

It says in Psalm 139, Search me, O God, and know my heart.

Try me and know my thoughts and see if there is any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting.

If we go into every situation, every conflict, everything that hurts, and we come before the Lord first and we say, God, search me.

God, find any way in me that is not right.

Show me what's going on in my heart.

You know what that does?

It softens our hearts.

And we're able to hear God clearer.

We need to be humble and soften our hearts.

So come before God with your sin.

And then he continues on.

His pain is becoming public.

Verses 7 through 9.

I endure insults for your sake.

Humiliation is written all over my face.

Even my own brothers pretend they don't know me and treat me like a stranger.

Passion for your heart has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.

His devotion for God is being mocked.

His family distances himself.

His pain becomes entertainment for people who do not even know his heart.

You know that people may not see the private choices that you make.

People don't always see the fact that you're seeking God every day, that you're asking God to soften your heart, that you're keeping complaining out of your mouth, that you're trying to keep a good report and do the right thing and love well and be there in the midst of it.

But you know who does see it?

Jesus does.

Jesus sees all of that private stuff.

He sees everything and he knows your heart.

So the psalmist does not go in silent.

He turns to God and he says, Step in, Lord.

He says in verse 13, but I keep praying to you, Lord, hoping this time you will show me favor.

In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation.

Rescue me from the mud.

Don't let me sick any deeper.

Save me from those who hate me and pull me from those deep waters.

Answer my prayers, O Lord, for your unfailing love is wonderful.

Take care of me.

For your mercy is so plentiful.

Come and redeem me.

Free me from my enemies.

So our friend is gonna keep praying and he's gonna keep asking God to answer his prayers.

That unfailing love that he mentions twice is Hasid love, and it means God's steadfast covenant love, his loyal, committed love that does not change ever for you and for I.

No matter what you do, no matter what happens, his love never changes.

This almost is not claiming that he deserves rescue, but he's remembering that God is not fickle.

If you've made a mistake or 25 mistakes, the Lord's love never has changed for you.

It remains constant through and through, from the beginning to the end.

It will never change.

And some of you are carrying around this bag of sin throughout your life.

It's so heavy.

And do you know that as you repent and he forgives you, you can let it go.

You can be free.

You don't have to carry that around anymore and help.

It doesn't need to help you make decisions in your life anymore.

You are free because of the blood of Jesus.

Hmm.

So God's steadfast love does not mean our choices never matter.

He does correct his children and he refuses to endorse our sin, but his love does mean that he will not abandon his people when life becomes painful.

So we need to keep praying.

So I'm not gonna solve my problem by replaying this over and over and over what they said in my head.

I'm gonna keep praying.

I'm not gonna let everybody else's opinion rule me.

Well, what they said and what they said, no, I'm gonna keep praying.

I'm not gonna let anger and emotion make my next decision because y'all know emotion is all over the place.

Like we don't know which way it's going.

We are going to pray.

Our emotions are wild, y'all.

Last Thursday night, well, every night, we um around the dinner table, we ask a question around the dinner table.

And right now we're using this game do you really know your family?

And so our question on Thursday night was how do you know when I'm angry?

And so we went around the table, and it's interesting, we know each other really well.

We're able to say, like, how each person how we know they're angry.

And then it got to me.

Now, y'all might not know me very well, but I can go to zero to one hundred real fast.

And my family told me the five ways that they know that I'm angry.

Are you ready for these?

Number one, you say anything about my kids or my grandbaby, Mama Bear's coming out, right?

She goes through the woods like butter on toast.

She'll be right there.

Yeah.

Okay.

Number two, Dr.

Mario.

I don't know why Mark and I play Dr.

Mario every night before bed.

I don't know.

We do every night.

Every night we play Dr.

Mario.

And it's like Tetris, but not, I don't know.

And so I don't get mad that he wins sometimes.

Sometimes.

But I get mad when the controller doesn't work.

Oh, I get mad.

I'm like, how could you not work?

And he laughs.

He's like, that's so funny.

And I'm like so mad.

Number three, injustice.

Real injustice.

When I hear or read about someone who's been hurt, it's been a lot this week.

Oh, I get mad.

And I think it's a good mad.

I think it's a righteous mad.

I get real angry.

Number four, kitchen chaos.

I tend to like to make new recipes, and I oftentimes don't leave enough time, and I oftentimes don't read the whole recipe first.

And so I just start cooking, and then I'm like, oh no.

And like, usually, if everyone's over, they're all in the kitchen.

And Mark's like, he can see that I'm getting a little frazzled, and he's like, maybe we should all go.

And I'm like, no, come back, because that feels like failure if everyone leaves.

But so I get a little angry and then I have to sit down.

And everyone knows when mom sits down on the floor, it's time to just okay, let's breathe.

You know a lot about me now.

And number five, last one.

Mark thinks it's cute when I get angry.

He thinks it's cute and funny.

And so he'll just poke, just do little things to make me angry.

And he thinks it's cute.

Like he'll say something like, I know 75% of most things, of all things.

And I'm like, you do not.

And I like get up, like I searched so angry.

And he just laughs.

I say all this to say our emotions can just they can go every which way.

And we need to surrender them to the Lord.

We need to bring them before the Lord.

And we need to keep praying because as we keep praying, he is going to lead us into where he wants us to go.

So prayer is not just asking prayer, it's also surrendering all of these things to the Lord.

So he goes on to say, he kind of takes a sharp turn here.

The psalmist tells God what he believes should happen to his enemies, and it's a little brutal.

And you can read all this on your own or in your small groups later this week, but it says, They give me poison for food, they offer me sour wine for my thirst.

Verse 22, let the bountiful table set before them become a snare and their prosperity become a trap.

He continues asking God to expose, to stop, and to judge the people doing evil.

These are severe prayers.

And they don't give us permission for us to curse people from a safe distance, but they do allow us to bring our thoughts, our prayers, our anger before the Lord.

We are able to bring it to Him.

He can handle it.

Do you know that?

God can handle the honest gut wrench.

Ugh.

He can handle it.

The New Testament does not tell Christians to stop caring about justice.

It tells us to refuse personal revenge, love our enemies, overcome evil with good, and entrust judgment to God.

So let's talk about how what Psalm 69 teaches us to do with pain that is real, treatment that is unjust, and an answer that has not yet arrived.

Because Jesus was the most innocent and Jesus was the most betrayed.

And he can teach us what to do with injustice and remain with us while we wait for God to make things right.

So when you're treated unfairly, condemned, rejected, and mocked, we need to number one, keep asking God for comfort.

Keep asking God for comfort.

The soul must look to God for comfort.

And we must learn to see comfort from God as our main source.

And there's lots of ways that we receive comfort in our life.

I mean, we have people around us, wonderful friends around us that we can call, that we can spend time with, that we can pray and talk to and be with.

Or, like you're like me, you like to go shopping, maybe some Hobby Lobby or TJ Maxx.

Yes, please.

Or you like to watch Hallmark movies.

Oh, I love them.

And do you know?

You guys just said yes.

Yes.

Christmas movies start October 16th, you all.

I know, I'm so excited.

So, yes, Hallmark movies.

I love them.

Or sitting outside with my chickens.

I love sitting outside with my chickens, or my family all around me, or Christmas everything.

These are all things that bring me such comfort.

But they're good, but they're not Jesus.

They're not Jesus.

People are gifts.

Call your friend, talk to your small group, meet with someone at church, talk to a counselor.

But no human being can provide the ultimate supply of reassurance, wisdom, presence, and emotional stability like God can.

So people may hold your hand, but God must hold your heart.

You know, when I think about the comfort of God, I think about a warm blanket.

This was my mother of the bride blanket from Heather Manahan.

Yay! Oh, I'm gonna put this down.

I love a warm blanket.

I feel like the presence of God is like a warm blanket.

It wraps around you, it's comforting, it relieves stress, it's warm, it never leaves.

It's just so wonderful.

And that's how God is.

He wraps himself around us if we let him, if we invite him, he invites us to do it.

He invites us to come to him.

Wrap yourself in Jesus and let him minister to you, let him comfort you.

But also, I feel like our lives are like a puzzle, too.

You know how you start a puzzle and we're all broken, and it feels like we're just all these pieces.

When someone hurts us, we just break apart.

And we just we like are looking at ourselves like, oh my gosh, what am I gonna do?

How am I gonna fix this?

And we think that we need to fix it, but we can't fix it.

We need God to put us back together, and that's what he does in the comfort.

He starts to put the pieces back together.

And it's more profound than that because he starts to talk to us about different parts of our lives.

Like, do you see how I was here in this situation?

Do you see how I never left you here?

Do you see how this person, you're gonna grow that relationship with them and it's gonna be okay?

Do you see how I'm healing you here?

Do you see how I never left you here?

And he just speaks to us as he comforts us as we seek him.

And that seeking him takes time.

It takes time in his word, it takes time in his presence, it takes undistracted time sitting with him, allowing him to have him soak in us.

We need him.

The thing that God can do that people can't and other things like Hallmark movies can't do is that God can shift our hearts.

God can give us new perspective.

He can give us favor and open doors and close doors that need to be closed.

He can speak not just what we want to hear, but what we need to hear in the moment.

He can fill us back up supernaturally, and he can give what your soul, what it needs in the moment.

He invites you to that.

He loves you.

So take the time with God, take a walk with God, journal, spend undistracted time in his presence and soak in him.

2 Corinthians 1, 3 through 4 says, Praise the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is the Father who is compassionate and the God who gives comfort.

He comforts us whenever we suffer.

That is why, whenever other people suffer, we are able to comfort them by using the same comfort we have received from God.

God comforts us so deeply that some of what he gives us can be given away.

Just like when you go outside and it's like today, it's a perfect example.

It's a sunny day, and you go outside and you close your eyes, and the warmth of the sun just wraps itself around you and warms you, and it benefits your health.

And it's just, it's awesome.

It's like that with Jesus.

You go before Jesus, and the light of Jesus shines on you, and it leaves that his radiating light on you.

And so every person that you see, you're radiating his light too.

That's why it's so important to be with him.

So we get filled up with him, so that we're shining his light to the world around him, so that you can see and stay with other people who are going through the same things that you have gone through and sit with them.

You know that he uses everything for your good and for his glory.

So as you go through these hard things, as you make it through, you're able to sit with someone else.

And you're able to say, I understand, and I'm here, and I'm with you in it.

And that's beautiful.

And that's what God's called us to do.

So, number two, God's comfort keeps the wound from hallowing us out, but comfort does not mean the wrong no longer matters.

So we need to ask him for number two, justice.

We need to ask him for justice.

When we ask for justice, we are telling God something wrong has happened and it has not been properly acknowledged or addressed.

You see, God can see everything, everything we can't see.

He can see people's motives, he can see people's hearts.

Every lie, every hidden conversation, and every consequence.

He has the wisdom and authority to expose truth, restrain evil, correct an offender, protect the vulnerable, and bring appropriate judgment.

He is God.

So I think of that as like a courtroom.

I was on a jury duty.

That was fun.

I loved being on a jury duty twice.

And I thought it was like such, I don't know, a privilege to be in that spot.

But I think in this case, it's like we're the witness on the stand and we're trying so hard to tell what happened and what went wrong and what they need to do.

And then we don't just stay the witness, we become the prosecutor then.

And then we're trying to convince everybody else about what they did to us.

And then we somehow become the judge and we are deciding exactly what they deserve.

And then the bailiff, and we're trying to enforce the sentence.

And then sometimes we even want to make them hurt the way we hurt.

But that's taking it into our own hands.

And it's really easy to fall into that.

I think about my chickens.

I think about my current chicken coop.

When I think about taking justice into our own hands, there it is.

Well, it's still standing, y'all.

That's a janky chicken coop right there.

It was held together for a very long time by duct tape.

You can see sweet Chungus and Susan in there.

They're wonderful.

But you know what?

That chicken coop is falling apart.

If a big wind came, it would blow away.

It wouldn't even stand.

Like we have to bring in our chickens every single night because they're not safe in that coop.

And that is our attempt to have chickens.

And sometimes when we take our attempt to bring justice, it's like that.

It's like a chicken coop that's never gonna stand.

It doesn't withstand anything.

But now I have a new chicken coop coming up.

Let's have a oh, whatever! Look at that thing.

That chicken coop is being put together by a professional, uh, piece of wood by piece of wood, thoughtfully, professionally.

It is just so it has a barn door, y'all.

It has windows that open and vents and lights and all sorts of stuff, but it's taking a lot of time.

And sometimes God takes time.

But when He does it, when it's God moving, when it's God bringing the judgment, it is sturdy, it is right, it is holy, it is good, and we want God's way.

So sometimes we need to wait.

Sometimes we need to trust in the midst of waiting.

When we wait for the Lord, we get something lasting.

So surrender is not just withdrawing the case in the court, it's also handing the case to the only judge that sees everything.

We can tell the truth, we can preserve evidence, report the crime, establish boundaries, seek legal, pastoral, and professional help.

We can leave an unsafe situation, we can entrust justice to God.

And then that never means staying silent when someone is being in danger.

Romans 17 or 12, 17 through 21.

I like this puts pause in me.

And I think as I read this, just listen to these verses.

Never pay back evil for evil.

What does God want?

Never pay back evil for more evil.

Do things in such a way that everyone can see that you are honorable.

Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.

Dear friends, never take revenge.

Leave that to the righteous anger of God.

For the scriptures say, I will take revenge, I will pay them back, says the Lord.

Instead, if your enemies are hungry, feed them.

If they are thirsty, give them something to drink.

And by doing this, you will reap burning coals of shame on their heads.

Okay.

Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

That is so countercultural.

That is completely opposite of the way the world works.

But how much peace would our hearts be filled with if we would do it God's way?

It would be completely different.

It would be amazing.

Our job is to keep our hearts right, trusting that God will bring judgment at the right time because God is qualified alone to do so.

He sees every heart.

Notice that Paul does not say evil is imaginary.

He does not say consequences are unnecessary.

He says, Do not let evil recruit me.

Do not let what they did determine what I become.

It's so powerful.

1 Peter 2 23 says, When they hurled their insults at Jesus, he did not retaliate.

When he suffered, he made no threats.

Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly.

Jesus did not entrust himself to a judge who ignores evil.

He entrusted himself to the Father who judges justly.

So we need to pray for the person who hurt us.

Not because the harm was small, but because prayer keeps their sin from reproducing itself in us.

Sometimes we walk around with so much unforgiveness that it gets so heavy and we can't even move forward because we're so mad.

So maybe forgiveness for you is just freeing yourself so that you can move forward.

Bring the wrongdoer to repentance and keep me from becoming like what hurt me.

Some wrongs may be exposed and corrected in this life, praise God, but some will not be fully answered until Jesus returns.

And we need to trust God with that.

God has promised final judgment, and He has not promised that every person who hurts you will apologize or face visible consequences on your preferred timetable.

Yep.

So once you hand this case to God, what do you do while you wait?

You keep praying, you ask God to keep you faithful in thanksgiving.

So, number three, faithfulness in prayer and thanksgiving.

Immediately after asking God for justice, the psalmist makes this surprising turn.

Listen to what he says.

Remember, keep in your mind everything that he's already said.

He is drowning in this pain that he's going through.

He has been mocked.

Everything is going wrong.

And this is his response.

And I believe it's the antidote.

He says, I will praise the name of God with a song.

I will magnify him with thanksgiving.

This will please the Lord more than an ox or bull with horns or hooves.

When the humble see it, they will be glad, you who seek the Lord.

Let your hearts revive.

For the Lord hears the needy and does not despise his own people who are prisoners.

For God will save Zion and build up the cities of Judah, and people shall dwell there and possess it.

The offspring of the serpents shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall dwell in it.

Excuse me.

Here's the thing, y'all.

The situation has not changed.

There are no circumstances that have changed at this point, right?

Everything is still the same.

But what does he do?

He gets up and he decides I will praise the Lord.

I will thank the Lord.

And I see this as a trend in the Psalms.

I've been in the Psalms recently a lot, and like it's in all the Psalms.

It's like everything is going bad.

And I praise the Lord and I give him thanks.

Oh, what is wrong with my soul?

My soul is so downcast.

Don't worry, soul, I will praise the Lord.

Like there is just this thing that can come out of us.

You know why?

Because when we're inward looking, we're like, uh, but when we look up to God, when we praise his name, when we thank him, our eyes go up to God and we see him.

He is faithful and he is good and he is never changing, and he is the same God today as he was yesterday and he will be in the future.

God is so faithful, and he is going to be faithful to you.

There's something like miraculous that happens in that.

He moves in our hearts and he changes us.

It's amazing.

Thankfulness is not calling the injustice good, it's declaring that the injustice has not changed who God is.

Pain is a ruthless editor.

It keeps replaying the worst scene over and over and over again.

What they said, the look on their face, who believed them, what you wish you had said.

Pain edits the story until injustice becomes the whole story.

It's what you think about all the time.

But thanksgiving does not delete the painful scene.

It puts the missing scenes back in.

The prayer God answered, the person he sent, the strength that he filled you with that you didn't think you had, the door he closed, all the doors he opened, the mercy he gave, the day you thought would destroy you, but it didn't.

It didn't.

You're still here.

Your pain may get a chapter in this life of yours, but it does not get the whole book.

Thanksgiving says that happened, but it is not the only thing that has happened to me.

God has been faithful, God has carried me before, and God will not abandon me now.

God is good.

So there is an exercise that you can do.

It's a simple prayer practice.

You can say, This still hurts me, but this is still true about God.

Being left out still hurts me.

God still sees me.

The divorce is still breaking my heart, but Jesus has not rejected me.

I still feel so behind in life, but Jesus says my value is not determined by my timeline.

I am ashamed of what I did.

Jesus still welcomes honest confession and offers real mercy.

The empty chair still hurts.

Death does not get the final word.

Prayer tells God what still hurts, but thanksgiving tells hurt that it is not the whole story.

We need to look up to God.

And this is where Jesus becomes even more visible to us.

Jesus could pray this psalm more truly than anyone else.

And you might have heard verses in here that he said in the New Testament.

You're like, Jesus said that.

He was referring back to this psalm.

He was hated without cause, mocked for his devotion to the Father, abandoned by his friend, offered sour wine on the cross and publicly condemned.

But we are not mere innocent sufferers.

Every one of us has rejected God's rule in our own way.

And Jesus willingly bore the judgment of our sin, deserved what our sin deserves, so that everyone who trusts him could be forgiven and reconciled back to God.

At the cross, God did not ignore evil, he judged it.

And in the resurrection, the Father vindicated the Son, and the world rejected Jesus is alive, and Jesus is reigning, and Jesus is coming again.

And so that means that rejection and injustice and sin and Satan and death never will get the final word.

Never.

Thank Jesus that he bore our judgment.

Thank him that he understands that rejection is from the inside.

Thank him that he is present with us now and that one day he will make all things right.

So what do we do with rejection and scorn and injustice that makes us feel like we're drowning?

We do what Psalm 69 teaches us to do.

We go to God for comfort.

We trust him with justice and we ask him to keep us faithful in prayer and thanksgiving.

We do not have to deny the hurt.

We do not have to pretend the wrong was not real or remain in an unsafe place, but we do not have to let someone else's sin poison our hearts while Jesus writes the rest of our story.

That is a choice before us.

We carry the pain ourselves.

We're playing it, resenting it, and trying to sell the score.

Or we can hand all of that hurt, all of that stuff over to Jesus and trust Him with it.

Name the wrong honestly.

Ask God specifically for comfort and for justice.

Do the next faithful thing that he is calling you to do and release the outcome that belongs to God, who is on the throne, who is the just judge.

He is surely good.

I do not know when you will see justice, and I don't know when you'll be feeling completely out of the water.

Some justice will only come when Jesus comes back, but keep praying, friend.

Keep trusting, keep asking, keep thanking him, keep doing good, keep believing.

The Lord hears the cries of the needy.

He has not forgotten you.

The one who was rejected is now risen and reigning, and he will hold your heart while you wait, and he will guide your next faithful step, and he will finally make all things right.

Take that whole heart to God and ask him to hold your heart, handle the wrong, and keep you faithful while you wait for him.

Let's pray.

Jesus, I thank you so much.

I thank you that you are good in the midst of our sorrow, in the midst of our pain.

Some of us here have been rejected and we've been going through the hardest of times, God.

God, I thank you that you see us.

I thank you, Jesus, that you know the next step.

And God, I pray, Jesus, that we would run to you for comfort, that we would trust you for justice, and that you would put in us a new praise and thanksgiving, a new song in our hearts, God.

That we would trust you, Jesus, that you are gonna make all wrong things right.

God, you are good and we love you.

In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, folks, that's all the time we have, but thank you so much for listening to this sermon.

If you got a lot out of this, feel free to share this with somebody who might need it.

Also, there's a ton more content on our website, on our YouTube channel, on our Instagram channel, on our TikTok channel.

Feel free to check all that kind of a thing out.

Also, if you're interested in leadership type stuff, go ahead and check out another podcast or any other blogs or videos or anything over at BibleLeadership.com.

And whatever else you do, make sure that you believe God for something big today.